I am all Cooked Out!

I came across this item in the back of my pantry a few days ago, while cleaning it out. The cleaning thing is all part of my Cleaning out the Pantry/Freezer Challenge I was taking part in over on the Compact Mailing List in June. I'm working on this Challenge through July too.

I must have picked this up on clearance at Big Lots back when my daughter still ate tuna fish. It has to be over a year old in that case, or older.

I wanted to serve this but no one besides me really likes tuna much. So I decided to shake things up a bit.
I made the Tuna Helper as directed on the box, except I left out the tuna. Then I cut up some leftover raw summer squash, broccoli we bought last Friday and got some bagged crinkle cut carrots out of the freezer. I put a little Olive Oil in a hot skillet and sort of 'stir fried' the veggies while the fettuccine and sauce were simmering.

When all was cooked, instead of Tuna Fettuccine Alfredo.....


I had Fettuccine Alfredo Primavera!

We had a yummy non-meat meal for 3 and I didn't have to throw away the box of Tuna Helper.

In other Cooking news....I spent most of Monday preparing food for later use.

I chopped onions, red & yellow bell peppers.
Then I cooked multiple packages of ground beef and grilled chicken breasts on the gas grill.
I made up a meatball mixture with some of the raw ground beef, formed & cooked 42 meatballs(1/2 are for Thursday night's dinner, 1/2 for the freezer to eat later).
While the meatballs cooked I picked & pulled apart the grilled chicken, then sauted the veggies/aromatics with tomatoes, garlic and herbs/spice.
After I grated 1/2lb. each of jack and cheddar cheese, it was time to grab the tortillas and start the burrito assembly line.
A little refried beans, a big spoon of grilled chicken or ground beef, another spoon of tomato & veggies and a clump of cheese to fill each tortilla.
Fold & roll each tortilla up in foil.
Over & over again.....until I had 12 chicken & 12 beef burritos all ready to be loaded into the freezer. Here are some of them.....



The last 6 tortillas were used to make a dish of Enchiladas for Tuesday night's dinner(we've moved this meal to Wednesday now, as we had leftovers tonight). The Enchiladas are covered with foil in the fridge, awaiting the enchilada sauce and monterey jack cheese, which I'll add right before heating them up.

We'll be eating good food and doing it frugally this week!

Enchiladas on Wednesday(just top & shove it in the oven).
Spaghetti & Meatballs on Thursday(just have to boil the noodles and assemble the meal)
More leftovers on Friday(pork bbq or fettucine or enchiladas, etc, just reheat)
Eating out Chinese on Saturday(Lunch time not dinner because the lunch price is less expensive)
Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes, Carrots(in the crockpot-no work just dump it in & leave it)

I've gotten all my "real" cooking out of the way for the week. More time to spend on other things....like enjoying the pool! ;-)

Who the heck wants to be chained to the stove/oven in the summer?

Sluggy

To Matt...on his 18th Birthday

My Oldest child turned 18 on Sunday. Since #1 son is working at camp this summer & we knew we wouldn't see him on his Birthday, hubby & I took him out to lunch a week ago when we went to pick our youngest child up from camp.
The newly minted adult is the one with the goatee on the left, in the photo.

I can't believe that it's been 18 years since I gave birth to this child!
Ok...on second thought, some days it feels like it's been DECADES since he was born and that he would never leave home.lolol

He has grown to be a first rate human being, if I do say so myself. He has a generous spirit. The depth of his empathy for others amazes me at time. He showed he has the heart of a peacemaker at an early age. He was a protective big brother to his siblings when he was little. Of course, with the teenage years, he also has become their biggest vexation!
He also possesses a fine wit and can get crazy with the best of them.


He is a hard worker. He is self-directed and has leadership qualities. He is goal oriented. He is politically aware in ways far beyond his contemporaries.

He is also stubborn beyond belief. That is a double edged sword in life....it can work for you or if you aren't careful, it can be your downfall. He can be quick to anger but his heart leads him back to apologize just as quickly.

At the age of 1 & 1/2, he could concentrate on something for hours that interested him...like puzzles. But he still only spoke 1 word with regularity,"More!"

He suffered with some early childhood physical challenges. Gastric problems and then having to wear leg braces as a toddler. He never complained. He was the happy child who was content & could 'play' with anything, even the dirty laundry pile.

At 2 & 1/2, he memorized word-for-word all the dialogue & songs in every Thomas the Tank Engine Video we owned....all 11 that had been released up to that point in time. He showed amazing concentration skills. But he still couldn't color within the lines or use scissors well at age 7.

In the preteen years he suffered through some serious bullying at school. It was a trying time(and upsetting to me especially)but he stood up to the bullies and used the proper channels to resolve it. The stubbornness helped him through that phase of his life. It also helped him as a midfielder on his soccer team, where the kids where always much bigger than he was.

He had a beautiful singing voice and was the little boy in front who sang with such emotion in the school choral concert that everyone noticed him. He had a flair for the dramatic, which helped him secure a starring role in the 5th grade play. He felt special when the principal asked him to play the trumpet at school during the morning announcements.

Despite his performing arts talents, in high school he chose to go out for wrestling all 4 years, even though it was the most physically demanding sports team in his high school and he had no prior training or exposure to this sport and little chance of being a starter on his team.
When his friends who were more experienced and 'better' wrestlers with more opportunities to compete fell away from the team, because it was too much work, he stuck it out until the end.

Other parents pushed their kids about grades & extra-curricular activities. We knew our son would push himself harder than we ever could so we let him set his own pace. He never did get to wrestle varsity but loved the sport and enjoyed the journey rather than the destination. He was/is an excellent student and has awards, honor rolls/society, leadership conference, college work while still in high school, & a fine mind to show for it. He is a thinking person which is hard to find nowadays.

He spent almost the entire senior year in high school unofficially tutoring a friend of his. Not for some credits for volunteer work to graduate or anything, just because they needed help and he could assist with that need. He didn't talk about it, he just did it.

I feel confident that whatever he wants to do in life, he will find success. I have no reservations that he is ready to step out of the nest and spread his wings. We'll be here if his feathers get ruffled. We've got his back.

You can depend on my son. His word is his bond.
He is a good, decent person who is capable of greatness.

He does his own laundry but he still can't cook.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!

Love always,
Mom

Cleaning out the Freezer Challenge Jam or Where did I Find my Thrill?

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you might remember last Friday, when I picked up this flat of fresh NJ blueberries at Shop-Rite. They ended up costing me $2.99 total. That's 6 pints!
Blueberries are hubby's most-est favorite fruit.
But what happens when hubby eats 1 pint and you have to do something with the other 5 before they start going bad?
You make BLUEBERRY JAM!
I used this jam making session as an opportunity to "Clean the Freezer" too.
I had an opened/parital bag of frozen Organic Blueberries, as well as what was left from the wild Maine blueberries I had obtained on our summer vacation to Maine last year.

I mixed 2 pints of the new berries with those 2 bags of frozen berries and a bit of sugar. Boiled the whole mix down.....



Voici! Blueberry Jam.
There isn't enough to can so this large batch is headed for the fridge and will adorn many slices of toast, bagels, English muffins or peanut butter sammiches.

Making jam is pretty easy. It's not jelly so you don't have to strain it, just skim off the foam that appears when it first starts boiling.
No special equipment except a pot, and no special cooking skills needed. Just fruit and a little sugar, simple and tasty.

This batch took awhile to boil down....notice all the blue ice crystals from the store bought frozen berries. All that water had to boil off so it took that much longer to cook it down to jam consistency.
Since it's not being canned, you don't need pectin or to water bath process this. You could also put 'fridge jam' into the freezer if you don't think you'll eat it all within a month.

I still had 3 pints of fresh berries to tuck away as is, into the freezer for later.....almost 3 pints. I did have to put a handful aside to mix into my yogurt in the morning. Mmmmm....

Be sure and grab some fresh Blueberries while they are in season & the price is reasonable!

Sluggy

Wotta Deal! KMART Score & a Multiple Choice Quiz

So I walked into the KMart Store 4 times last week during their Double Coupons Sale with these Gentlemen....


And I walked out with these Gentlemen....


(That's 4 Lincolns, 1 Jefferson & 1 Roosevelt if you can't make out the coins due to my amazing photography skills....snort)

Oh, and I also walked out with everything in these pictures....











Yep, that's $278.97 worth of stuff for $21.81 AND that includes the tax I paid.(If you remove the tax, I only paid $16.02 to KMart($5.79 to the State for tax).
How did I do it?
Ok, this is a test....

Is the Correct Answer....
A.
Put a gun to the manager's head, tied up all the employees and backed a U-Haul Truck up to the door. The $21.81 was payment on renting the U-Haul.
B.
Snuck in at night a la Mission Impossible and just took what I wanted & left a small donation in the register.
C.
Brought a pricing gun into the store, hacked into the KMart computer system and changed all the prices. I didn't mark everything free, because free would have been too suspicious.
D.
Brought and used a TON of Coupons & a calculator, and shopped strategically to maximize my spending dollars.

If you guessed D you are correct!

And if your money doesn't go this far, there are ways to learn how to do this. Almost any one can with the right set of skills, organization and some free time.

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday.....July 13th Edition some 'From Scratch' Cooking

Here's what our family of 3 will be eating this week...

Monday--Fettuccine Alfredo Primavera(using leftover squash), Tossed Salad(from garden)
Tuesday--Chicken Enchiladas(from scratch), Corn
Wednesday--Refrigerator Roulette-pick a leftover in the fridge ;-)
Thursday--Spaghetti & Meatballs, Garlic Bread, Greens(not sure which kind yet)
Friday--Pizza(either BBQ Chicken or Chicken Wing-from scratch)
Saturday--New England Clam Chowder (from scratch) & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Sunday--Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes in crockpot

You will notice that I am cooking for only 3 now. Daughter got a call on Friday that some one had not shown up to work at camp, so they asked her to come back to work 3 weeks earlier than she was suppose to. So hubby drove her out on Sat. That also explains why we never had the Fettuccine Alfredo last Saturday....it's back on the menu for this week.
I also didn't have time Sunday to get my Burrito making session finished, so it's on the schedule for today. While cooking for the burritos I'll also make the meatballs for Thursday's dinner and assemble the Chicken Enchiladas for Tuesday's meal. That way I get all these meals done in one shot, except for the heating them up part.

I'm doing a fair amount of Cooking from Scratch this week. I'll try to post photos and recipes the evening or the day after I serve that dish. Check back then for updates.

I had to run out Sunday afternoon to Weis for cabbage to make the coleslaw for the Pork BBQ we had that evening. While there I happened on 5 packages of Ground Beef marked down to .99¢ lb.(and it wasn't at the expiration date!). I spent an extra $8 of the grocery budget for those. 2 went into the freezer & 3 will be used for the meatballs and burrito filling for some of the burritos.
Even though I had Ground Beef in the freezer I could thaw, it was worth it to pick up these cheap packages of meat and use them instead. Ground Beef is not an item that stays too long in our freezer.

I am still cleaning out old foodstuffs to use up this week. So far, this morning I used some old frozen fruit up & dinner will include an older pantry item. Will report in on all that later tonight.

Food Waste Report.....part of a tasteless cantaloupe. Straight to the compost it went...yuck!lol
Daughter would often make her own dinner. Some of them were, let's call them "creative"....meaning, this is something no one else here wants to eat.lol She left quite a few in the fridge when she left Saturday. The dogs will enjoy finishing her handiwork for her this week.

Check out Organizing Junkie's Website Here to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week!

Sluggy